The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-09-27
CLAY AND JOHNNY"
A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE
GREAT STATESMAN.
A Long Ride in Virginia Which Made Clay
Remember a Country Boy After
Many Years-A Favor Re
ciprocated.
baltimore Herald

baltimore Herald
"Did know Henry Clay?" repeated Mr..
John NJ Holmes, of the firm of Holmes &
Sons, in his Office the other day. MIR. Holmes
face lit up with an amiable smile as he con-
tinued:
Indeed I did, and never met stranger
to whom l felt so drawn as l did to him,
when first 1 became acquainted with him.
That was a good many years age" Mr..
Holmes added, running his fingers through
his white hair. at away back in 1888.
This is how it happened:
in those days I was a boy of 10 years and
lived with my mother in Frederick county,
Va, about eight miles from Winchester and
about a mile from the stage road that ran
from Washington across the mountains One
day the stage met with an accident coming
coming down tie hill, near our place, and
was upset. hurried TO the scene and learned
that man had been killed. As wanted tC
see what a dead man looked Ike / ap-
preached a tall, bony man who was seated
by the roadside writing letter on his knee,
to ask where the dead man was. He directed
me pleasantly, and when l had seen all
wanted, [ returned and asked him if he
wouldn't come up to my mothers house f0r
dinner"
q would like to do so very much, sonny"
he replied, "but I can hardly walk"
=
our barouche
"He objected that it would be too much
trouble, but finally consented. So got the
vehicle and took him up to the house, while
the other passengers walked. While at din
ner my mother and | discovered that the
genial gentleman was Henry Clay We also
discovered that he was very anxious to get
to Winchester at once, in order to take the
stage there for his home in Kentucky My
r
thanked me, and nothing could have pleased
me better. When we were ready to start
took the reins, but Mr.. Clay said to me:
A." See here, Johnny, suppose you sit back
with me and let my colored man, Charles,
drive
:" All right sir, said I, and back 1 went
1t was delightful ride to me. will never
forget it. Mr.. Clay completely captivated
me- He talked to me about school, about
horses, about farming, about shooting, in
fact, about everything that would interest
boy of my age, bringing himself down to my
level
Now, Johnny, I want you to slip this
into your pocket Mr.. Clay said when we
reached Winchester. He handed me SO.
told him that my mother would never con-
sent to my taking that. 1t would reflect
upon Virginia hospitality.
L don't want to pay you, of course he
urged. i only want you to take this as
present.
81 demurred again. and not until while
driving home looked on the back seat did /
know Mr.. Clay had quietly put the money
there.
"The next time 1 saw Mr. Clay" Mr.
Holmes went on to say, "was in 1912, at
Dayton, Ohio He had just addressed a
mass meeting and the people were pressing
forward to shake his hand. l was a
stranger, but l thought 1, too, would go up
and speak to him. L told him my name was
Holmes. He stopped to think and said that
he once dined at the house of a Widow
Holmes in Virginia almost ten years before,
and remembered that she had little son
named Johnny. He often thought about
their Kindness he said, and wanted to know
if l was any relation. When told him that
Johnny he seized both my hands and
shook them with all his might, inviting me
to his hotel that night.
II saw Mr.. Clay again four years later in
Cumberland, Md, in 1916. He paid visit
there a few weeks after came to live there
a reception committee of all the big guns in
town waited at the railroad station for his
arrival. l managed to get in among the
crowd, near the edge of the platform. When
the train stopped Mr. Clay stepped off about
a dozen feet from where I was standing. The
reception committee was advancing, hat in
hand, 20 greet the great statesman, when |
suddenly he caught sight of me, and paying |
little or no attention to the advancing com |
mittee, pushed over to me, extending his |
hand and excIaiming:
Why, John, is that you? What on earth |
are you doing here9"
"The crowd Immediately turned it's atten- |
ton to me, and after Mr. Clay had &C |
knowledged the committees courtesy, he |
took my arm and walked down to the hotel |
with me. 1t was remarkable how polite /
every body in town became to be after that /
little episode.
"My last meeting with Mr.. Clay was in !
1849" Mr.. Holmes added: III was trying |
to get mail agency and had been faith
fully promised the influence of a congress-
man who had been ON the most intimate
terms with all my family since his boy
hood. l discovered, however, from As
sistant Postmaster General Dundass, that
my supposed friend was really working in
another mans interest. l taxed him with it
and told him that, in spite of him, would
have the office So l visited Henry Clay and
found him sick in bed He asked me what
the trouble was, and l told him l wanted
lim TO help me out, l said. 1t was the first
time / had asked him favorna
Give me that PORTFOLIO" he said.
II did so and he wrote a few lines to the
general / took the letter TO the
after In two days l had my commission.
It only goes to prove that Mr. Clay never
orgot a kindness done him. He got more
han even with me at least"